Imagery is utilised frequently by athletes as a covert rehearsal strategy to facilitate skilled physical performance and enhance desirable psychological states. Consequently, practitioners recommend athletes improve the volitional control of their imagery for sport-specific outcomes. However, imagery can also occur spontaneously with certain images reported to be intrusive, distressing and capable of eliciting heightened negative emotions (Brewin et al., 2010, Psychological Review, 117(1), 201–232). Although some researchers have incorporated spontaneous imagery into models aimed at facilitating effective imagery use (Murphy et al., 2008. In T. S. Horn (Ed.), Advances in Sport Psychology), uncertainty exists as to how involuntary imagery relates to physical and affective states known to influence sports performance. The aim of our study was to investigate the size of the relationship between intrusive visual imagery and negative affect in a sample of British University sport performers. Following institutional ethical approval, 209 recruits (Myears = 19.91, s = 1.62) studying for degrees in sport science related-programs engaged in team-based (e.g., rugby, football, hockey) and individual-based (e.g., running, swimming, cycling, gymnastics) sports took part in this study. Participants competed at either recreational (n = 61), university (n = 71), county (n = 56) or national (n = 21) levels. Negative affect was measured using the positive and negative affect scale (PANAS) (Watson et al., (1988, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070) with intrusive visual imagery recorded using an inventory developed by McCarthy-Jones et al. (2012, Conscious and Cognition, 21, 1375–1381). A simple linear regression was conducted with negative affect acting as the dependent variable and intrusive visual imagery the predictor variable. R for regression was significantly different from zero, F1,207 = 14.906, P = 0.001, with the adjusted R2 value demonstrating that approximately 6% of the variance in sports performers’ negative affect was attributable to recorded levels of intrusive visual imagery. Our study provides evidence that intrusive visual imagery accounts for a small amount of variation in a sport performer’s self-reported negative affect. Practitioners might want to consider the implication of this result through the lens of preparing athletes to maintain a designated level of optimal affectivity during training and competition with emphasis on attempts to facilitate both physical and mental performance. Finally, investigating the occurrence of intrusive visual imagery warrants discussion with sport performers to ascertain whether this type of imagery is prevalent, and if so, devise measures to determine whether this ideation influences specific sport performance markers.

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2014 British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) Conference, Needwood, United Kingdom 25-26 November 2014